'You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.' Maya Angelou

learning

'We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.' Peter Drucker

discovery

'The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but be on course when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life, of the marvellous structure of reality. It is enough if one tries merely to comprehend a little of this mystery every day.'
Albert Einstein

endeavour

We look for opportunities to encourage young people to push themselves to new heights. We are constantly delighted by the way they rise to this challenge, support each other with strong leadership and develop qualities that can help them face life's challenges with a 'can do' attitude.'

fulfilment

It's cool to succeed at Hele's and we celebrate achievements and milestones equally. Often the greatest fulfilment comes when difficult challenges are faced and barriers overcome. Every child, regardless of circumstances, can achieve and be fulfilled.

Welcome to Hele’s School

I take great pleasure in welcoming you to Hele’s School! We are a school with a tradition of academic excellence, high aspirations and a big heart. A school that students and staff are proud to attend. A school where we never compromise our insistence that everyone is valued, learns, enjoys and achieves. Expectations for staff and students are high, but very simple; work hard both to do things right and to do the right thing…even when no one is looking!

Our mission is to support and challenge each individual, adult or child, to be the best they can be. We have a ‘no excuses’ philosophy based on growth mindset principles, which reinforces our belief that all of us can always improve, and that nothing is impossible. Quite simply, it isn’t about being ‘the best’ at something, but being better than we were yesterday or today. It is for this reason that recognising and celebrating endeavour, as well as achievement, is something we hold dear.

We work hard at providing an inclusive, calm, and purposeful learning environment, and aim to ensure all students have opportunities to enrich their learning, to discover new skills and interests, and to master others through providing a breadth of curricular and extra-curricular opportunities to excite and engage young people, wherever their interests or aspirations may lie.

I am extremely proud to lead a dedicated and enthusiastic team of staff who are passionate about working with young people, and are committed to ensuring that those entrusted in our care get the best life chances possible. Everything we do is shaped by our determination to ensure that each and every child has a positive and memorable experience of school; that they thrive, flourish and, crucially, are happy. We focus on opportunities to develop teaching and learning at every turn and, importantly, teachers at Hele’s have a resolve to be the best they can be in the classroom; our core purpose being to remove barriers to learning so that young people can be inspired, can aspire and can achieve. In return we expect a buy in to our belief that we all have an active role to play in making our school a great place to be, which manifests itself in every child displaying the highest standards of commitment to learning, pride and care.

These are exciting times for our school as we journey towards, and beyond, excellence and we would be delighted if you were to choose to share that journey with us! With your help, we will build on the successes of Hele’s School to date and continue with our quest to not just meet, but to exceed, our aspiration to be a school that is beyond outstanding in every measure.

Please do take the time to explore our website to find out more about us, and don’t hesitate to contact us should you require any further information about our school. Better still, come and see us for yourself! We delight in showing people our school and rest assured that a very warm welcome awaits you. Visitors always comment on the purposeful, caring and happy ethos of the school, so what better way for you to find out more about our vision and values than to come and experience them first-hand?

We look forward to working with you in partnership in the future, and to welcoming you to Hele’s School.

BBC School Report gives young people aged 11-19 the chance to become a journalist for the day. Each year, students across the country team up to research and report the news on Live Day in March. This year, students from Year 7, 9 and our Sixth Form joined together to report the news. Our students created their own news bulletin, wrote feature articles, live new articles and to top it all off, a selection of our students had the chance to speak to BBC Radio Devon live on air to share their experience of the day. Many thanks to the following: BBC Radio Devon for inviting us in and interviewing our students; Plymouth Argyle FC for allowing our students to attend a press conference; the National Theatre and actors Thomas Dennis and Jasper William Cartwright for allowing our students to interview them. A great day was had by all.

Staff and students were really excited about their latest visitor to the school. James Lake, a Sculptor based in Exeter spent the day working with Year 9 Art students.

James works with cardboard and has done for the last 20 years, he believes that there are so many options with cardboard, strong, versatile and gives him so many options for his work. James is known and respected for manipulating cardboard to a form that is way beyond its original use.

James has had many commissions across the country including creating a Butler at the Gotham Hotel in Manchester and Hands at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, but today he was helping students to create three dimensional heads totally from cardboard, a workshop that both staff and students had been looking forward to for some months.